British SAS soldiers have been deployed to northern Iraq to "gather intelligence" ahead of any potential rescue operation, led by the US, to airlift thousands of Yazidi refugees from Mount Sinjar.

The elite SAS unit is
said to be in the Sinjar mountains "scoping the ground"
in case world leaders decide to embark on a major international
rescue operation. This evacuation mission, however, seems to be
on hold for the time being.

The US is now stepping back from an evacuation mission after US
Special Forces sent to Mount Sinjar found that the condition of
displaced Yazidis was better than expected and that far fewer
were left than previously thought.

After a COBRA (Cabinet Office briefing room A) meeting on the
situation in Iraq on Wednesday, UK Prime Minister David Cameron
said "detailed plans are now being put in place" for an
international mission to rescue Yazidis trapped in the Mount
Sinjar region and Britain "will play a role in delivering
it."

But on Wednesday, US defense secretary Chuck Hagel said an
evacuation mission was less likely after US troops reached Mount
Sinjar, because there were now fewer refugees than previously
thought. This is due to the success of humanitarian air drops of
food and water, airstrikes on Islamic State (IS, formerly
ISIS/ISIL) targets, the efforts of the Peshmerga fighters and
because thousands of Yazidis have been able to evacuate from the
mountain each night over the last several days.

Hagel said current assessments on the ground made it far less
likely that the United States “would undertake any kind of
specific humanitarian rescue mission” that may has been in
the works.

He added, however, that that would not stop Washington from
carrying one out in the future.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said, “The Yazidis
who remain are in better condition than previously believed and
continue to have access to the food and water that we have
dropped. Based on this assessment the interagency has determined
that an evacuation mission is far less likely.”

It had previously been thought there were between 20,000 and
30,000 still trapped on the mountain after fleeing IS militants.

Thousands of mainly Yazidi refugees left Mount Sinjar and fled to
a camp just over the border in Syria that the International
Rescue Committee is setting up.

“The UK government is also providing funding to the
International Rescue Committee for their refugee camp in North
East Syria, where around 12,000 people have already sought refuge
after fleeing the Sinjar region,” the spokesperson said.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson declined to comment on the SAS
involvement, but emphasized that it is still a humanitarian
mission and not a combat mission.

“Our focus remains on alleviating the humanitarian
situation,” said a Downing Street spokeswoman.

Four British Chinook helicopters are said to be transporting
humanitarian supplies and weapons supplied by other countries to
Kurdish Peshmerga forces, who are spearheading the fight against
Islamic State. The UK has already sent RAF Tornado jets equipped
with sophisticated surveillance equipment to gather intelligence.

Cameron discusses Iraq with world leaders

The PM spoke with world leaders by phone on Wednesday as the
crisis continues to mount, including French President François
Hollande, the newly-elected Turkish president and current Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Masoud Barzani, president of
the Kurdistan regional government.

In his conversation with Masoud Barzani Cameron expressed
“the UK’s strong support for the action the Kurdistan
Regional Government is taking against ISIL,” according to a
Downing Street spokesperson. The PM said that the UK “would
continue to do all it could to provide humanitarian support,
including identifying ways to strengthen capacity at the Dahuk
refugee camp.” The UK also emphasized its support for
PM-designate Dr Haider Al-Abadi to set up an inclusive Iraqi
government in Baghdad.

In a conversation with Hollande, they agreed that the EU could do
more to provide aid and that this should be addressed when EU
foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Friday to discuss the
crisis in Iraq.

Over four nights, the UK has successfully completed seven air
drops of clean water, shelter kits to provide shade from the heat
and solar lamps with mobile phone chargers to help thousands of
displaced Iraqi people. Justine Greening, the international
development secretary, said the UK will continue its aid drops.

The United Nations said it considered Iraq in general to be at
the highest level of humanitarian crisis on Wednesday. Special
representative for Iraq Nickolay Mladenov said a level-three
emergency was in effect triggering additional aid for Iraq,
calling the current situation a “humanitarian
catastrophe.”